CHAPTER FOUR
Richard had claimed business to attend to, and left her to her own devices so Lori spent the morning relaxing in the small garden between the house and the beach, regaining her energy. Kohai came out to check on regularly, bringing her water and iced tea, then eventually lunch. She set out two plates with sandwichs, and Lori raised an eyebrow.
"Mister Cryer will be joining you," Kohai explained with a smile. "You are very lucky tahine, Mister Cryer is a very good man. He has done many good things for the island."
Lori's eyebrow went up at the word 'island,' and she looked out towards the long stretch of white sand and blue green waters. Was she on an island? Richard had said that they were near Malibu, but there were no islands near Malibu. Unless Richard's estate was on the Channel Islands. Was Richard so powerful that he could build an estate on National Park land?
As she mused over this possibility Richard appeared at her shoulder, surprising her out of her reverie.
"Richard, joining me for lunch?"
"For the rest of the afternoon," he promised as he took a seat across from her. "I thought we might take a walk down along the beach."
"That would be lovely."
"I considered breaking out the surfboards, but it can wait for tomorrow. You still need to recover."
"You don't have to worry so much Richard, or try so hard. I feel fine, I'm having an excellent time. I love your house, this is beautiful spot."
"Oh, good. Good. I'm glad you like it."
He smiled, she smiled back, and they turned their attention to Kohai's sandwiches. After they ate Richard stood and offered her his hand. She took it and he lead her down towards the beach. They walked hand in hand, with a warm tropical breeze at their back. Lori sighed contentedly. Add some soft new age music and it was the fulfillment of her every romantic desire.
As they walked he talked about his business, and she nodded and feigned interest. The point, she decided, was to impress on her how much money Richard had, and how much other people were willing to trust him with their own fortunes. She was duly impressed.
Gently she steered him away from talk of stocks and portfolios and towards discussion of his father, and the way the old man had impressed upon Richard the principles of sound investing and creative entrepreneurship. He choked up a bit when he spoke of how much he had wanted to impress his father, and how sad he'd been when the elder Cryer had passed on before he had achieved his greatest successes. She slipped her arm through him and leaned in close as they walked, feeling closer to him now than she had to any man in her life.
"All of the work I do for the islands, I do because of him."
"The Channel Islands?"
Richard looked at her strangely. "No, Kiribati."
It was Lori's turn to look at him oddly now. She was about to ask him where exactly they were when a booming voice interrupted their conversation: "Mauri Mister Cryer!"
The owner of the voice was large, barrel chested man. Again Lori's first thought was that he was latino, but as he approached he realized that he was Polynesian, like Kohai. He wore long shorts that hung past his knees, and no shirt. His upper arms were covered in thick black tribal tattoos. Behind him, further up the beach were three other young men. Lori realized they were surfers, waxing their boards.
"Mauri Beniamina," Richard shouted back. "Kam rabwa?"
"Awesome!" The man reached them and extended a hand towards Lori. She took it and he squeezed her hand. "Beniamina, but everyone calls me Big Ben."
Big Ben was right. He was huge, towering over Richard, who was himself quite tall. But more than height, Ben had girth on his side. Lori and half her sorority could have fit inside the mountain sized man. She felt no threat from him at all though, one look into his gleaming eyes promised that he had the soul of a child.
"My word," she mocked a swoon. "You're as big as a mountain!"
Ben smiled and looked at Richard.
"It's a really big hill." Then to Lori: "Ben's never seen a mountain, he's lived his whole life on the island."
Lori blinked. That was unusual.
"You catch any waves today Mister Cryer?"
"Afraid not, maybe tomorrow."
"You didn't miss anything today. Tomorrow should be good though, there's supposed to be some killer waves breaking off the South fork."
"We'll check it out," Richard promised. He shuffled his feet awkwardly and Big Ben's eyes went from Richard to Lori and back to Richard.
"Oh, I'll leave you two alone! Ti a bo, Cryer!"
"Ti a bo Ben," Richard chuckled as the giant man ambled back up the beach. As he approached the other surfers Lori could hear them speaking excitedly in that same strange language that Kohai spoke.
"Where are we Richard, and don't tell me Malibu."
"What?"
"I know were on an island, and everyone is speaking that Glibbertiflibit language --"
"Gilbertese."
"Gilbertese, right. And. And. Are we in Kiribati?"
"Yes, we're on the island of Butaritari."
"And where is that, exactly?"
"Exactly? It's at 3 degrees north, and --"
Lori playfully punched Richard's shoudler and he smiled. "Don't give me that, you know what I mean."
"Okay, draw a line between Hawaii and Australia, and we're about halfway along that line. Does that help? The South Pacific."
"What? But we left from LA? I thought you turned around when I got ill?"
"No, when you collapsed I told Dr. Joyce I wanted you taken to my estate, so we came directly here."
"Wasn't LA closer?"
"Yes, but. Well, I wanted you to come here. I needed you to see this place, see how beautiful and precious it is. You know, we may be the last generation that will truly be able to appreciate these islands. Within the next century they'll have disappeared, drown under rising sea levels due to global warming."
"I'm just, I don't know, this is very confusing Richard. I feel like, I don't know. Like I've been kidnapped. Dr. Joyce was on the yacht? Oh my god Richard, did. Did you you drug me?"
"Oh no, no please don't see it like that. It's just, Lori, since the moment I met you, I knew. I knew you were the one for me. It's like someone cooked you up in lab, like they took bits and pieces of different people and assembled the perfect woman for me, put her in the perfect body. I'm madly in love with you Lori Conrad, and when I love something I bring it here. Because this place is paradise."
"Richard, this is all, it's very unusual. I mean, I have very strong feelings for you too, but oh my god Richard! You don't take someone to a foreign country when they're unconscious!"
"I, I'm sorry. I just wanted to bring you here so I could, so I could. Wait just a second." Richard reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box, the sort that hold rings. Lori gasped as he dropped to one knee and opened the box, revealing a glittering band of white gold and diamonds. So many diamonds. And so large. Up the beach the four surfers, who were still watching them intently, began to cheer and shout in that strange language.
"Lori Conrad, will you marry me?"
As the words tumbled out of his mouth, something inside Lori switched on like a lightbulb and suddenly she understood. Richard Cryer was insane. She was in terrible, terrible danger.
EARLIER
"Mr. Brink, I need to see you in my office."
Adelle sat back in her chair and sighed heavily. Sometimes this job was too much for her and she wished she could leave, but one does not leave the Dollhouse.
Richard Cryer was a rich and powerful man, the sort of man one said no to. He was also a smart, calculating man who did not take no for an answer. He had caved to Adelle's principles far too easily, and she knew he had something planned. Something she would not approve of.
The elevator doors opened and Topher Brink stepped nervously into her office. "Hey there boss lady. Did I do something wrong?"
"I don't know Topher, do you think you did something wrong?"
Topher squirmed and Adelle smiled. He was beyond a genius, easily the smartest man in her operation, but for all his intelligence he was as easy to manipulate as a eleven year old boy on a sugar rush. She decided to let him off the hook.
"I called you up here to discuss an upcoming engagement for Echo. I need you to create a secondary set of parameters that will only come into play when Echo is exposed to a set key phrase."
"Sure, that's easy peasy. What's the key phrase?"
"Will you marry me?"
NOW
Lori backed away from Richard, her heart pounding with fear. He rose from his feet and stepped towards her, reaching out for her with a puzzled expression.
"Stay away from me!" she screamed as she scrambled back, slipping in the sand and stumbling to the ground. Up the beach the four surfers exchanged puzzled looks.
Lori struggled to her feet, batting away Richard's hand as he reached for her. The surfers began walking towards them, quickly breaking into a jog as they saw Lori's panic.
"No, don't touch me!" She took another cautious step away and then turned and ran. The soft sand of the beach softened every step, and made running laborious. She slipped and fell again, only to stagger back to her feet.
Behind her the surfers had reached Richard. He was forced to stop and make up excuses for her behavior. By the time he'd convinced them she was simply "very emotional," Lori had disappeared.